Browsing by Author "Brinkel Johanna"

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    Feasibility of Electronic Health Information and Surveillance System (eHISS) for disease symptom monitoring: A case of rural Ghana
    (PLOS ONE, 2018) Mohammed Aliyu; Franke Konstantin; Okyere Boakye Portia; Owusu-Dabo Ellis; Brinkel Johanna; Kreuels Benno...et al
    Introduction The current surge of mobile phone use in many African countries creates the opportunity to provide caregivers with limited access to the health care system with vital health recommen dations. At the same time such communication system can be utilised to collect tempero spatial data on disease symptoms. Objective We assessed the feasibility of an mHealth system among caregivers with children under five years, designed as a health information and surveillance tool in a rural district of Ghana. Methods A mobile phone-based electronic health information and surveillance system was piloted from February to December 2015. Toll-free numbers were provided to 1446 caregivers, which they could call to receive health advice in case their children showed disease symp toms. The system was setup to evaluate the illness of a sick child. Symptoms reported via the system were evaluated and compared to clinician’s report after follow-up. Cogency of the reported symptoms was assessed using Cohen’s kappa coefficient. Results A total of 169 children with disease symptoms were identified based on phone calls from caregivers. The predominant reported symptoms were fever (64%; n = 108), cough (55%; n = 93) and diarrhoea (33%; n = 55). Temporal pattern of symptomatic cases revealed a peak saturation in the month of September, with fever registering the highest number of symptoms observed. Reported symptoms and clinician’s report revealed a very good